Whoa! Has it really been two months since I posted a blog entry? Well, that right there tells you the load of wash I call life has become unbalanced. There are so many things in our life we have to juggle. Finding balance between home, family, work, friends plus maybe a little time for oneself is never easy.My new thing is trying to strike the right balance between reading and writing. If I want to become a better writer I have to, as Mary Kay Andrews says, glue my butt in the chair. (What a great name for a blog!)But I also have to read other writers and learn from them. When I was at St. Simons Island last week, my cousin gave me "The Island" by Elin Hildebrand to read. I absolutely loved it in that couldn't put it down kind of way. In fact, I was pretty unhappy that I had to drive for five hours and couldn't finish it until I got home. At the end of the day that is how I hope and pray people will feel about my book.How wonderful to be able to create characters that people care about so much they are willing to turn the page again and again to find out what happens to them. Some of you know that last November I participated in NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month). I wrote 50,000 words in 30 days. Now to do that, your fingers have to pretty much fly so that you can write 1,500 to 2,000 words a day and it may not all be pretty. I have to say, I went back this past week to reread those 50,000 words and I was not at all unhappy. So I've been editing that first bit since then. I've got some technical things to fix, then I'll look at gaps I need to fill. This first part of TSB (the second book) is about a relationship between a 20-something southern girl and a young Englishman living in London. They correspond by letter until they finally meet. The second part takes place 25 years later in modern day London. I can't really finish the second part of the book until I get back from my trip to England in the spring. At least that's what I tell myself. :-)While I'm there, I plan to meet the three great people I've talked about in earlier posts...Lisa, David and my dear, dear friend Mark.I'm going to include a a couple of the letters between my two characters. Hope you like 'em. Maybe they'll whet your appetite for the whole book and with any luck, I'll finish it and you'll love it.It's why writers do what they do...for your love. "-)July 3, 1985Dear Lloyd,Do you celebrate July Fourth over there? Just a joke! I’m not that daft. How do you like that…I used a proper English word. If I come for a visit, I’m going to have to learn how to talk like a lady, don’t you think? Perhaps in every letter you could teach me an English word that has a very different meaning in America than in Britain. I think daft is pretty much the same, though. Can you tell, I’m trying to skirt the issue of how badly I’ve slagged off in the letter writing department? I did it again, British word: five points for Schuyler. Oh and the five points for “daft”, so a total of ten. I think I’ll save up my points and trade them in for a favor from you. How would that be? Maybe even for forgiveness for not writing sooner. Truthfully, I got the letter you wrote before the trip and then your tape (thank you, thank you, thank you) and I really didn’t have anything new to report. I’m mainly going to work and coming home. I do have a freelance design project I’m working on that will bring some much needed funds to the “Send Schuyler to London” foundation. But it’s a beautiful summer here and we do have a pool and it is constantly calling my name. Can you hear it now? “Schuyler, Schuyler, Schuyler.” How is a girl supposed to get any work done, I mean really? Honestly, accept my apologies for not writing while you were away, but in truth I could have just instructed you to see previous letter, for all the excitement in my life at the moment. Your faithful servant,SchuylerP.S. I forgot! You asked for my phone number…no need to keep it secret…no one cares.212- 378-4518. I guess we have one of those country code thingies but I don’t have a bloody clue what it is. Oh!!! Another five points for Schuyler (“bloody”). Woo hoo!

13 July, 1985Dear Schuyler, Happy Bastille Day eve. Yes, it is the celebration of the storming of the Bastille and the beginning of the grand French Republic. We Brits look at it as a day when the frogs get blindingly drunk, shoot off fireworks and in general act like the arses they are. Can you tell there is not a great degree of love lost between the British and the French? You’ve made mention of a possible visit. Did you have a certain date in mind? Fall will be here before you know it and I think that could be a particularly nice time for you to make the trip. Now as far as your tutelage in proper English is concerned, rather than drag this out, let me pass along some key words you may study at your leisure. First of all, even though you may hear me use the word wanker, you should not use that word. I’m a bloke and it’s more acceptable for me to utilize this as a part of my vocabulary. For the record, it has to do with male masturbation so not something I’m guessing you will need in day to day conversation.The same goes for knackered. It sounds like it means tired, which it does, but the implication is generally tired after a naughty night, so stay away from that one as well. Now on to the basics:Fag: cigarette not a bloke who likes a bloke. Biscuit: what we have with tea. What you might call a cookie.Loo: WC, water closet, toilet…you get the picture.The post: We don’t tire ourselves by adding the word “office”.Tube: has nothing to do with wanker or knackered (aren’t I awful!), but rather what we call our metro.Newsagent: the nice bloke round the corner where I go to get the paper. They have fags and sweets there as well.Sweets: sorry, missed that one, didn’t I. Candy. Don’t need it , don’t want it.This should get you off to a good start. Plus you’ll have me close by as a translator. Study hard; grueling work it is, coming to see the Queen. Get your arse over here soon.Warmly,Lloyd

At the end of the day that is how I hope and pray people will feel about my book.How wonderful to be able to create characters that people care about so much they are will to turn the page again and again to find out what happens to them.